Panel proposes compensation for 1898 race riot victims...

June 01, 2006

Panel proposes compensation for 1898 race riot victims' heirs RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina should compensate the heirs of victims of racial violence that led to the overthrow of a racially mixed city government a century ago, a fact-finding commission recommended Wednesday. The murders and terrorizing of blacks by white supremacists in 1898 led to a Democratic takeover from Republicans who controlled the city of Wilmington during Reconstruction. The commission's report -- produced after six years of study -- urged lawmakers to consider economic reparations for the coastal town, including incentives for minority small businesses, opportunities for compensation for victims' heirs, and help for minority home ownership. The commission did not provide any cost estimates, although compensation advocate Larry Thomas, of Chapel Hill, said the economic losses could be in the billions of dollars today. By terrorizing blacks in Wilmington on Nov. 10, 1898, white supremacists were able to overthrow government officials at gunpoint -- the only recorded violent government overthrow in U.S. history, according to the report. Democratic state Rep. Thomas Wright, who helped establish the panel, said the next step is to file a bill with the recommendations, which also includes the parties responsible for the violence atone for their actions and that the history of the incident be taught in schools. The attacks killed as many as 60 people and sparked an exodus of 2,100 blacks, the commission concluded. Wilmington flipped from a black majority to a white majority in the months following the violence.